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Kosta Barbarouses thanks Ange Postecoglou for ‘setting up’ his successful football career

Not many strikers can say they’re still one of the most lethal players in the game at the age of 30, yet Kosta Barbarouses has shown this season for Sydney FC that anything is possible.

Currently falling in the top 10 highest goal scorers this season, with 8 goals in 20 matches, Kosta is looking to add another trophy to his cabinet this season with Sydney FC.

Speaking on ‘Pitch Side with Stav‘ with Mark Stavroulakis, the Greek-New Zealander says he’s ready to help the Sky Blues continue their success from last year.

“It’ll be great to win the premiership in my first season here in Sydney and pick up where the season left last year and it’s good to see we can hopefully continue that,” Kosta says on Pitch Side with Stav.

Kosta Barbarouses speaking with Mark Stavroulakis on ‘Pitch Side with Stav’. Photo: NPL.TV

“Depending on our results and a couple of other teams results, we could warp the premiership up pretty early. But I guess now, with a lot of games in a small space, if we do ramp it up then it’ll give us more time to prepare for finals.”

Joining from a successful stint with Melbourne Victory, to which he scored 32 goals in 51 matches, Kosta has had a successful career in the A-League.

Kosta started playing from the age of five with Miramar Rangers football club in New Zealand. Reaching the age of 12, he joined representative side Wellington Olympic and spent 7 years in the New Zealand Football Championship, later joining Team Wellington in 2005.

Photo: Canberra Times

In 2007, Kosta started his professional career with home side Wellington Phoenix, previously playing for Wellington Olympic and Team Wellington in the New Zealand Football Championship. Not having the greatest start to his professional career, he was shocked to find out he was wanted as a player in Australia.

“I always feel i was lucky to be involved in the Brisbane team in 2010. I had just come off three years at Phoenix where I didn’t play too much football… I remember Brisbane and Newcastle were interested in signing me and I thought that was a big leap of faith from both sides, because I was also counted as a foreign player,” Kosta said.

Ange Postecoglou was the manager for Brisbane Roar at the time of Kosta’s arrival, with the Greek-New Zealander thankful that the coach had faith in him.

“I think he saw something in me that he could improve on and get the best out of me and once I got that opportunity, I worked very hard and that sort of set up the career I’ve had.”

The 2010 Brisbane Roar side went on to win the the championship, being unbeaten in 28 games.

“I finished as top goalscorer for the club, so that really stands out to me.”

You can watch the Full Interview between Kosta Barbarouses and Mark Stavroulakis on NPL.TV.

Exclusive: Angelica and Alexandra Georgopoulos – The ‘dynamic duo’ of refereeing in Australian Women’s Football

By Takis Triadafillou

No sports match is complete without a referee, and the best referees are some of the hardest to find. Two who are already overthrowing the male establishment in the field of refereeing and football, both in Australia and worldwide, are sisters Angelica and Alexandra Georgopoulos.

Coming from a family of sports, with their father Panagiotis being a second generation immigrant and mother Rhonda from Belfast, Ireland, they became the pillars for the two girls to make their dreams come true and give an entity and recognition to women’s football and refereeing.

Alexandra, how did you started playing football?

I started at the age of 6 for Strathfield FC in a mixed team and in my sophomore year I played in a girls team and have continued ever since. Following on from playing football, I then decided to pursue a degree in refereeing, studying in a school of refereeing, and have been refereeing since 2014.

Alexandra Georgopoulos. Photo: Supplied

As a graduate coach at Meriden School, I am studying Bachelor Of Business, specialising in Sports Management, at the University of Western Sydney. At the same time, I help my parents’ business in Elders Real Estate Greenacre.

Alexandra, how do you see the Australian National Team – Matildas?

It is a big event to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. It will go very well and with the appropriate support from the Australian Football Federation and the fans, I believe it will be a unique World Cup.

Alexandra, how did you manage during the coronavirus pandemic?

Classes were always done via Zoom or Skype with the management program. It is understandable that it is not easy to plan for 25 students that are below ten years old. But, I believe that with care and prudence we will return to our original rhythms.

Photo: Supplied

Angelica, how did you get started in football?

From a young age, I had a passion for sportsmanship and, in fact, of women, supporting to this day the rights and the role of women in sports. My goal is the equality, development and promotion of women’s football in the sports community. I do not hide from you that I would like to work for the Australian Football Federation and for FIFA.

Volunteering and football in general is very important to me. I am studying for a Bachelor of Advanced Business Leadership, specialising in Sports Management at the University of Western Sydney.

Angelica, how did you manage during the coronavirus pandemic?

Like Alexandra, I tried to continue my studies through the internet and to help and cheer people up in this difficult global crisis.

Angelica Georgopoulos. Photo: Supplied

It is important to mention their grandparents, Nikolas and Agapi Georgopoulos. Their grandfather is from Methoni in Messinia and the grandmother is from Aetos in Florina. They continuously act as the flame for their grandchildren, showing them eternal love and emotion.

Their grandfather, with his love and strength, supported the girls throughout the course of their lives. Similarly, their grandmother is proud of her grandchildren, who were to become shining examples for the entire female sports community.

The two girls brought joy for the whole Greek and Australian sports family, representing two unique values. It is not just skills, but ethics and respect that dominate their lives, inherited from their parents and grandparents.

It is worth mentioning the Greek proverb, “Το µήλο κάτω από τη µηλιά θα πέσει” (“The apple fall doesn’t fall far from the tree”).

Chief Justice Chris Kourakis leads charge for SA lawyers to undergo compulsory anti-bullying training

Chief Justice Chris Kourakis has made it loud and clear that enough is enough with mandatory anti-bullying and sexual harassment training to be conducted annually for South Australian lawyers.

The Greek Australia Chief Justice held a meeting with various legal stakeholders, including the South Australian Bar Association, the Law Society of SA and Women Lawyers Association of SA, to discuss “practical solutions” to tackle the scourge of bullying and sexual harassment within the sector.

The group agreed to implement a number of in-principle measures, including:

COMPULSORY and continuing professional development and compulsory training for all lawyers, which will be run by the Law Society of SA;

A CONFIDENTIAL complaints process where practitioners can lodge grievances and receive support and counselling;

ENSURING involvement of the profession from the grassroots level to the highest level, starting at law schools.

Magistrates Court, Victoria. Photo: Google

“The meeting also recognised a need for ongoing training for all practitioners to be undertaken annually and an acknowledgment of their understanding of the obligation they have in reporting inappropriate behaviour,” a statement from the Courts Administration Authority read.

“The training would include an individual’s responsibility, either as an employer or an employee or simple bystander, in relation to instances of bullying and sexual harassment.”

The statement said Chief Justice Kourakis “has said that he recognises the need to demonstrate the same kind of leadership shown by The Hon Susan Kiefel AC, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, in response to allegations of sexual harassment against one of the High Court’s former members.”

The actions of Mr Kourakis are in response to a High Court investigation last month into the conduct of former judge Dyson Heydon, 77, with sexual harassment complaints made against him by six young female associates.

Supreme court in Adelaide. Photo: ABC

Chief Justice Kourakis said he would call another meeting later this year to “map out practical steps for implementation of the strategies”.

Law Society of SA president Tim White supported the proposed measures.

“There should be a zero-tolerance attitude to sexual harassment, and we should do all we can to make workplaces safe and inclusive,” he said.

“The society has long advocated for a mandatory continuing profession development for practitioners that relates to inappropriate conduct – ongoing education is key to building a culture of respect and inclusivity.”

Sourced By: Adelaide Now

Trans-Tasman bubble disbanded as overseas travel dreams crushed

Overseas travel dreams have been crushed by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison as he announced that overseas travel would be unlikely without a coronavirus vaccine.

Speaking with Tracy Grimshaw on Thursday, the Australian Prime Minister showed hope in the trans-Tasman ‘travel bubble’ with New Zealand.

“This would be very challenging. I would hope before the end of the year that Australia and New Zealand could agree to a travel zone,” Mr Morrison said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she will prioritise travel arrangements with Realm countries in the Pacific ahead of Australia. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

However, Australians can now kiss their Kiwi travel dreams goodbye, with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying Australia has slipped down the pecking order. The upswing of cases in Victoria, and to a lesser extent in New South Wales, has prompted Ardern to look east to form a bubble with the COVID-free Cook Islands.

“It’s clear to us that opening up with Realm countries, keeping in mind they are New Zealand passport holders, will come before any opening up with Australia,” Ardern told Newshub.

Mr Morrison was pressed on Thursday if the trans-Tasman travel bubble was to go ahead, it would mean Australians needed to prepare for a life of never going on holidays overseas again. However, the Prime Minister hoped many would see the opportunities amid the crisis.

Photo: Getty Images

“Australian’s can focus on that, if there is no vaccine,” he said.

“I need Australians looking up, forward… they will be encouraging each other. They will be opening their businesses. They will be do whatever they can to keep people in jobs.

“Whether there will be a vaccine, and I hope there will be, then we will deal with whatever circumstance confronts us because that’s what Australians do.”

With a trans-Tasman bubble no longer in the picture, Australians will most-likely need to wait till March before the opportunity of overseas travel arises.

Chaos in front of Hagia Sophia as police cordon breached and coronavirus distancing ignored

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Thousands of worshipers flocked to Istanbul to attend the first prayer in Hagia Sophia since it was turned into a mosque causing an incident with police cordon.

Waves of people were scattered across the road outside the former Christian Cathedral waiting to enter and pray. At the same time, measures against the spread of the coronavirus had been neglected, the AP writes.

Read More: Thousands of Muslims gather at Hagia Sophia for first official prayer [VIDEO]

Orthodox Churches throughout Greece on Friday marked the conversion of Constantinople’s Hagia Sofia to a mosque by mournfully tolling their bells in protests, flags were lowered on half of the spears, while the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church will serve a special mass this afternoon.

Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said that this is a difficult day and that “shadows hung over us” by turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

“It is something that has shocked Christians around the world, not just Greeks. We warned earlier that this would create an unbridgeable gap between Turkey and the Christian world,” Petsas said.

Read More: Australia’s Greek Orthodox and Catholic Church leaders express joint disappointment on Hagia Sophia status

The sixth-century building had been open to all visitors, regardless of their faith, since its inauguration as a museum in 1935.

“This decision clearly affects not only Turkey’s relations with Greece but also its relations with the European Union, UNESCO, and the world community as a whole,” Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

Three Greek grandparents among the latest victims of the coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne

The coronavirus continues to plague citizens in Melbourne, with three of the latest victims of the deadly disease being grandparents of Greek origin.

Nine News identified two of the victims as two Greek grandmothers Maria Vasilakis and Helen Alexiou. Both victims were part of Victoria’s deadliest day of coronavirus, with the state’s COVID-19 death toll rising to 56.

Another victim was 80-year-old Greek migrant Haralambos Bakirtzidis who died in Footscray hospital following an 11-day fight on a ventilator after contracting COVID-19, Nine News separately reported.

According to his daughter Athina, the Greek father continued visiting the TAB and shopping despite falling ill. Haralambos believed he had the flu after calling an ambulance but did not need to go to hospital.

“I wish I could have tied him to his chair at home. I wish I could have yelled at him. I wish I had done a lot more and said ‘Dad, no. If you go (out) this is how it will affect us’,” Athina told Nine News.

Mr Bakirtzidis immigrated to Australia from Greece in the 1970s and had misinterpreted what medics told him initially, believing he had the flu.

The Maidstone grandfather – who immigrated to Australia from Greece in the 1970s – assumed Melbourne had beaten coronavirus at the end of the first lockdown. Photo: 9 News

After he couldn’t eat, sleep and drink, an ambulance was called a second time and he was admitted to hospital, testing positive for coronavirus the next day.

Athina, along with her three siblings, watched their father deteriorate over Facetime while prohibited from visiting him in hospital. Her mother, who had also contracted coronavirus, was the only one allowed to be by his side.

“He told me ‘I don’t want to die.’ And I told him you have to trust the doctors,” Athina said.

Mr Bakirtzidis died at the Footscray hospital after being taken off his ventilator. Athina and her siblings are waiting for their mother to recover before burying their father. She’s issued a warning to anyone, particularly older Melbournians, who are becoming complacent.

“It’s very hard. Dad can’t even have the funeral he deserves,” she said.

“I do feel robbed because I had so much more I wanted to share with him. It will take our family a long time to recover. We may never recover.”

Thousands of Muslims gather at Hagia Sophia for first official prayer [VIDEO]

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Thousands of Muslims have gathered outside of Hagia Sophia to conduct the first prayer after its official conversion into a mosque tonight.

Waves of people were scattered across the road outside the former Christian Cathedral waiting to enter and pray, solidifying the building’s conversion into a mosque.

The Turkish high court ruled that Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia was to be converted back into a mosque on July 10 following the request of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Hagia Sophia was built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral during the Byzantine Empire, and was since turned into a UNESCO World Heritage Site, visited by millions of tourists each year.

“Owing to its historical significance, the conversion of the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul – a unique architectural monument – into a museum will gratify the entire Eastern World and will cause humanity to gain a new institution of knowledge” – Turkish Council of Ministers, 24 November 1934.

The sixth-century building had been open to all visitors, regardless of their faith, since its inauguration as a museum in 1935.

It’s understood that the Turkish Presidents actions are an attempt to cause greater tension with their Eastern neighbours.

“This decision clearly affects not only Turkey’s relations with Greece but also its relations with the European Union, UNESCO, and the world community as a whole,” Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

Conductor George Ellis on the ‘musical energy’ he gets from his Greek heritage

For the past three decades, George Ellis has been bringing classical music to the masses. From presenting concerts with international icons such as Hans Zimmer to appearing in Hollywood film Mao’s Last Dancer, the 56-year-old orchestral conductor and composer has become a household name.

But George says this is something he never takes for granted as he’s just grateful to be able to perform and write the music he loves so passionately.

“Working with the extraordinary brilliant musicians – all experts – is what I love most about what I do. Their sounds are such a beautiful reward for the hard work that goes into writing music for them,” George tells The Greek Herald exclusively.

“It is a personal challenge to make sure the music I provide for these great musicians, and the audiences, is as excellent as I can possibly make it.”

George Ellis has been composing and conducting for over three decades.

The young conductor:

George is definitely no stranger to challenges. Born in Australia and living in Marrickville for most of his formative years, George discovered music at age four with the Beatles album ‘Sergeant Pepper Lonely Heart’s Club Band,’ which his father passed on to him. The only thing standing in the way of furthering his passion? He needed piano lessons.

“Ever since I was a little boy, I was totally captivated and fascinated by the amazing sounds brought about by music. I was keen to learn how great sounds were made. My older brother was learning piano at the time so I pestered my parents… until they sent me to a piano teacher,” George explains.

“In high school I also met others who could play music, so we got together and formed bands and wrote songs. And when I thought about what to study after school and how I wanted to make a living, I auditioned at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to do a Bachelor of Music degree.”

At the Conservatorium, George played cello, piano and classical guitar. He was also introduced to a subject called ‘conducting’ and the lecturer who encouraged George to pursue the subject as a career.

“My lecturer called me into his office after my first time conducting in his class and he said, ‘This is your future – you must conduct for a living.’ He told me it came naturally to me and that I should pursue it as a career,” George says.

“He then organised a scholarship for me to do a Master’s degree in conducting at the University of Colorado in the US, which I completed three years later. I have been conducting ever since.”

George’s “Greekness”:

It’s clear that conducting and composing music is as ingrained in George’s blood as his Greek heritage. Many of his performances over the years have been inspired by the Greek culture and language, including his involvement in the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games back in 2000.

“My Greek heritage influences my work in many ways. Greekness means a love of life and an ebullient, energetic approach to life. The way I compose and conduct is a by-product of this energy,” George says.

“Even conducting at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 was extremely meaningful to me, mainly because the singing I conducted was in the Greek language.”

Conducting and composing music is as ingrained in George’s blood as his Greek heritage.

With such a clear passion for his “Greekness,” it should come as no surprise then that George also aims to promote Greek composers to young Greek Australians and in turn, hopes to perform at the Acropolis one day.

“At the moment, the plan is to get on the stage again as soon as possible and be able to make music. I miss its magic. It is an ambition of mine to one day stage a concert at the Herod Atticus Theatre at the Acropolis in Athens,” George explains.

“I would also love young Greek Australians of today to know the music of the master Greek orchestral composers of our heritage – Theodorakis, Hadjidakis, Xarhakos and Markopoulos. It is full of rich beauty.”

Almost as beautiful as the pieces he will continue to compose and conduct right here in Australia.

Miracles in the ancient Asclepeion

The Asclepieia were sanctuaries and places of worship of the holy physician and healer god Asclepius. They were the first hospitals, or rather complexes of health buildings, not only in Greece but in the whole of western civilisation.

According to Homer, Asclepius and his two sons were regarded as the first ‘doctors’, inheriting the secrets of the medical art and carrying it down through generations. However, it was the teachers of the Asclepieion that carried their medical legacy to Greek healers.

Hippocrates was the most famous teacher of the Asclepieion, teaching the Medical School of Kos. He was descended from the son of Asclepius, Podaleirios, a fact that is assumed to be proved by his family tree. 

Hippocrates is still internationally recognised as the “Father of Medical Science” as he was the one who clarified and published the first and basic principles of this science. The “Oath of Hippocrates” also remains an accepted sacred declaration of the obligations of doctors. 

Written sources and archaeological evidence has proven the existence of about 320 Asclepieia in the ancient Greek world. According to less-credible sources, Asclepieia in the ancient world exceeded 500.

According to written sources, the priests/doctors in Asclepieia worshiped Asclepius by offering health to ‘men’ (patients and beggars). All men were treated with sacred respect, as a complete being with strong characteristics. Illness was seen as the result of complex and negative interactions with the environment, along with psychological, spiritual, and physical factors.

Health care in during this time seemed to have been aimed at normalising internal conflicts and restoring harmony, with the help of medicine.

As the Temple of Asclepius was so sacred, visiting the monument was not a simple task. The Priests of the Temple had to call you. It was preceded by fasting, a laxative bath and mental purification. The whole process was headed by the High Priest and was assisted by priests who performed the duties of a deacon.

The Temple of Asclepius remains a great mystery. Patients with incurable diseases were treated. The blind found their light. Paraplegics were walking again. The healing power of Asclepius has been known to the Priests since ancient times. Yet, their healing tradition was secret and was only revealed to the young missionaries.

Miracles recorded in the inscriptions of Epidaurus:

1. Cleo was pregnant for five years, and could not give birth. She came to the Temple and slept in Avaton. As soon as she woke up and went out of the Temple, she gave birth to a son, who immediately walked. To thank the gods, Cleo engraved the following on an inscription: “It is not the grandeur of the inscription that is admirable but the Deity, because Cleo was pregnant with the baby for five years until she slept in the Temple and Asclepius healed her”.

2. A man suffered from paralysis in his fingers. He visited the Temple of Asclepius seeking treatment. As he played dice outside the Temple, the god appeared, grabbed his hand, and stretched out his fingers. After that the man could move all his fingers. God asked him if he was still skeptical of what the temple inscriptions said. The man said, “No more.”

3. A little boy could not speak. He came to the Temple with his father to worship the gods. While making the necessary sacrifices and rituals, a Priest appeared bringing fire from the Altar of the gods. He looked at the boy’s father and demanded he promise that if his son was healed, then the father would donate a votive offering to the Temple of Asclepius. Suddenly the boy replied: “I promise.” The boy’s father was shocked by the miracle and asked his child to repeat what he said. The boy repeated the words, and since then his voice has fully recovered.

4. Pandaros from Thessaly, had spots on his forehead. He saw a vision where the gods wrapped his wounds in a bandage and told him to remove it when he left the Temple. And once he is healed, offer the bandage as a votive offering to the Temple. When Pandaros woke up, he removed the bandage and found that the spots had disappeared. Then he dedicated the bandage to the Temple, as commanded by the god Asclepius.

5. A blind man from both eyes arrived at the Temple of Asclepius. His eyes were so damaged that in the niches there was nothing but eyelids. As soon as he fell asleep, the blind man saw a vision. Asclepius appeared, prepared a medicine and after lifting the patient’s eyelids, he smeared the area with the medicine. When he woke up the man had light in both eyes.

On this day in 1923, the Greek-Turkish border was defined with the Treaty of Lausanne

The Treaty of Lausanne was the final treaty that concluded World War I, settling the fight between Turkey and Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia).

The treaty recognised the boundaries of the modern state of Turkey, with Turkey making no claim to its former Arab provinces. Hence, the Treaty of Lausanne led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the new Republic of Turkey as the successor state of the defunct Ottoman Empire.

Following negotiations, the Greek-Turkish border was defined on land to the middle course of the river Evros. At sea, every island and islet is attributed to Greece, so long as it is located beyond three miles from the coasts of Asia Minor, except Imbros and Tenedos.

Upon the signing of the treaty in 1923, the Turkish straits between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea were declared open to all shipping.

The Greek-Turkish border has remained undisputed for 98 years, until the admission of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The ‘power-hungry’ Turkish leader seeks to institute certain revisions in the Treaty of Lausanne under the concept of Neo-Ottomanism. He also laments the content of the treaty that forced Turkey to cede the Aegean islands to Greece.